IMPORTANT: This website is optimised for modern web browsers with accessibility options or should be used with 'text-to-speech' software. We recommend Internet Explorer 7, FireFox 2 or Apple Safari 3. If possible you should enable JavaScript and Cookies or upgrade your web browser software to experience some of the nicer features of this web site.

LOOK News and Events:

Posts Tagged ‘Blindness’

Thrilled to be Working for LOOK

I have spent most of my time working in theatre and community arts, as a freelance writer, and as director of my own theatre company. I have also worked as a creative writing teacher at various colleges, including here at RNC in Hereford. I live in rural Wales and have three children.

My whole life I have been interested in – even obsessive about – imagining what the world is like experienced from someone else’s perspective. I love imagining myself inside other people’s shoes and asking questions. This is what fuels my interest in writing plays and making theatre. It is also what drew me to counselling and related fields such as coaching and mentoring. I love having ideas and making them happen. Mentoring is a way of facilitating others to explore their ideas and then figure out how to put them into action.

I am thrilled to be working as mentoring co-ordinator for Look. Being a person who spends most of the time in a soup of ideas, drives, aspirations, dreams, anxieties, doubts and distractions I see the benefits that a mentoring relationship can bring as invaluable. Having someone there to help you unpick the swirl of life, help you recognise the path you want to take, and identify how best to go about following it, is an incredible resource. It is a fantastic opportunity for me to have a role in making that resource accessible to all those who want to participate. So far I have loved helping people from different parts of the country make connections, share experiences and ideas. I also feel honoured to be working with such a talented, resilient, inspiring group of folk.

I very much hope to keep building the project, so that we continue to create a strong network of role models, mentors and mentees. I want to develop a system where mentors are themselves mentored, and mentees eventually become mentors too. The online platform is a great way of bringing people together across the country. It is also secure from a safeguarding point of view. All the messages are moderated so we know that our young people are protected. I am also excited about developing a face-to-face element to the project. The training events that took place before I arrived were, by all accounts, inspiring and energising. I want to create further opportunities for our participants to get together in person, share ideas and have fun. Hopefully our mentors will soon start to get involved in planning these events and making them happen. I also intend to find ways of offering our mentors training opportunities, to further their mentoring skills and equip them to be role-models and leaders of the future.

A Lack of Vision Does Not Mean Lack of Will or Ambition

My name is Charlotte Carson and I am the director of LOOK-UK – I hope you enjoy reading the first of many blogs.

I’m honoured to be the Director of LOOK as I have a very strong personal connection with the charity. LOOK was founded in 1991 by my incredible parents, Jennifer and Gareth Bowen, when I lost my sight at the age of 7. I was initially diagnosed with Stargardts disease, which was later re-diagnosed as Cone Rod Dystrophy. They, along with several courageous campaigning parents, founded LOOK in response to a lack of support for families. LOOK’s founding mission was to link families together from all over the UK to share experiences and support each other. Their ethos was families helping families, and we are now so proud to carry on this lineage in the form of our peer mentoring project, youth helping youth.

I’ve been in my role for nearly two years and LOOK’s mission remains as it has always done: to improve the lives of families with visually impaired children and young people. We are doing this through our peer-to-peer mentoring scheme (launched last year), providing support, information, and activities.

We are so lucky to have our office based in the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford. I’ve hosted focus groups here, on Skype and networked with different organisations. I’ve been so impressed by the idealism, tenacity, and strength of all the students I’ve met. It felt right to create a project together, where we support each other. No one knows better than us, what we need and what we are going through.

Although many visually impaired people do lead full and interesting lives, they do face challenging times too – school can be tough, accessing an education, dealing with personal sight loss, and overcoming many social barriers too. I faced similar difficulties when I was at school nearly twenty years ago. I have spent my post-education years thinking there must be a better path through these transitional times and I learnt, through experience, that mentoring is the key.

I know from first-hand experience how beneficial a mentoring relationship can be for young VI people – it really can help gain the best outcomes in life and help us reach our full potential.

How do I know?
I am now registered blind and have a degree on useful vision. I can see outlines of objects and people and the rest of my vision is a blurry mess of colours and flashing lights. My sight is deteriorating and it fluctuates daily.

In my teens and into my twenties, I was introduced to a few key figures in my life, who were to have a significant, and long-lasting effect. These men and women became my mentors, guiding me through my tricky transitional years. They helped me believe in myself and to fulfil my dreams and ambitions.

The self-respect and confidence I learnt from my mentors remains with me to this day and, importantly, inspired me to launch LOOK’s mentor project last year. I know, from talking to young people, that there is a real and urgent need for a project like this. The benefit of a mentor is immeasurable and long-lasting. Sometimes, what really helps is just to talk to someone who understands what you are going through.

The project is starting online and we’ve currently trained up a team of experienced mentors, who are supporting young people aged 11 – 29 through our secure online mentoring platform. As this is a pilot project we will be evaluating its impact and we already can see terrific results. We have some really interesting projects in the pipeline too, news of which you can find on our website.

The essence of the LOOK Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Project is to provide support and help for young people with a visual impairment from an impartial mentor from outside the family, school, or college, who will neither judge nor dictate and who, most crucially, has been in the same position. It could be for you.

I know that together we can make a difference to many people’s lives. Purely from the power of kindred support. If you are interested to find out more about our project or get involved, then please get in touch.

I’ll be blogging on here again soon. If you are also interested to blog for us then please email youth@look-uk.org

The LOOK Interview With Shaun Stocker

Welcome to the LOOK Interview. We’re delighted this week to welcome our guest Shaun Stocker. Shaun is 23 years old and is registered blind and is a double amputee.
At the age of 19, Shaun was a soldier in Afghanistan when he stepped on a IED (improvised explosive device). He lost both of his legs and was blinded.

Shaun tells us his inspirational story about how he has come to terms with his sight loss and physical disability.
He has such a positive outlook on life and the challenges he encounters. He got married last year, has a one year old son and runs his own property development business.

The LOOK Interview was created by our Hereford Youth forum members who you will hear on the below recording.
With special thanks to the RNC chapel Arts media students who recorded this interview from their studio.